There was a time when Iron Man was considered too low on the superhero ladder to warrant his own film, but after years in development limbo Marvel cracked the idea and kicked off one of the most successful superhero franchises in history. But what about the also-ran “-Men”; the weird, high-concept characters that seem doomed to stay on the page? When will their time come? Meet a few of our favourites…

Origins: Launched in 1941 in Quality Comics, Plastic Man owes his creation to writer-artist Jack Cole. Patrick O’Brien was a safe-cracking burglar shot while pulling a job with his gang at the Crawford Chemical Works and doused with the contents of a mysterious drum of liquid. Somehow escaping the cops, he ended up at a monastery where a monk cared for him and inspired him to become a hero. He discovered that he can now bend, twist and shape his body into any form. A stretchy superhero was born! In 1956, Quality Comics shut down and DC acquired many of its characters, folding the bendy benchmark into its stable. He’s since made appearances alongside some of the most famous Justice League types and even made the cover of the New Yorker in 1999. Take that, Tony Stark!

Film chances? He’s one of the few on our list to merit serious consideration from Warners. The studio, in collaboration with Amblin, took a stab at the idea in the early 1990s, with future Matrix creators Andy and Lana Wachowski working up a screenplay in 1995. Years later, they considered the idea again and floated the idea past Keanu Reeves. Plastic may not be as cool and futuristic a material as it was in 1941, but in these yoga-crazed times there's always time for a bendy hero.

How you didn't use the cover for "Giant sized Man Thing" is a disgrace and a great blow to your journalistic credibility. More

Posted by hughesjo on Sunday April 27, 2014, 04:50

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3D Man

In regards to perennial Marvel alien bastards, you seem to have compacted the separate races of the "Skrulls" and the "Kree" into the "Skree". From what I can recall it was the Skrulls who were involved in this character. More

Posted by photosimian on Thursday April 24, 2014, 12:57

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Armless Tiger Man? Who woul allow a comic book charecter like that to exist? More

Posted by Darren47 on Tuesday April 22, 2014, 11:42

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Plastic Man

He did have his own dedicated cartoon show Plastic Man Comedy/Adventure Show (1980) Episode …: http://youtu.be/GthW1qxzsA8 More

Posted by Dazzadooby on Monday April 21, 2014, 19:30

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Umm.. you've made one more error now you've edited this... The Angel wasn't a mutant. He was a none super powered detective. He could only fly as he acquired the 'Mystic Cape of Mercury'. More

Posted by GrizBe on Monday April 21, 2014, 18:11

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RE:

L: jimbo909
It's not the same Angel from X-men.
urprised I missed that. But yeah, from your Armless Tigerman section, 'The Angel' is Thomas Halloway. Not Warren Worthington, the X-mens Angel/Archangel.
The Angel first appeared in Marvel's predecessor Timely Comics way back in 1939. Warren Worthington Angel didn't appear until X-men #1 in 1963.
edit: Also, Hydro Man first appeared in Amazing Spiderman #212 in 1981. Not 87. More

Man Thing could be possible seeing that his wife has already appeared in the Marvel Movieverse.
In Iron Man 3, we see Ellen Brandt. (The woman with the facial scar that Stark fights). She was man-things wife who betrayed him to AIM and got her facial scar in a fight with him. More